Reaching out to others

Editor’s Note: As we celebrate Catholic Sisters Week (March 8-14), several sisters will share via the blog about their experiences living as a Catholic sister.

In the second grade, I wanted to be a priest. From then on, I knew I would be a Catholic Sister. The Lent before I entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, I affirmed the role of the laity grounded in Baptism. I “went to Mass” every day, consciously making the statement to myself that lay people are just as holy as sisters and priests.

Reaching out to others has been an important place in my life. It’s where I feel at home. I’ve been a lifelong learner, starting as a student at St. Andrew School in Chicago. I then moved on to learner as a sister – as a teacher, principal, religious education consultant, associate pastor, director of the Sisters of Providence mission development and a number of administrative positions at the archdiocesan level.

Roots of justice, integrity, intimacy, communion and wholeness were nurtured in me by family days as a youngster, novitiate days as an adult-in-the-making, and ministry days as a committed disciple. Throughout my life, raising questions and searching out possibilities filled my conscious interaction with others as well as my interior reflection.

‘Surprised’

In the past 70 (!!!) years as a Sister of Providence, I have been “surprised” into various forms of ministry. I’ve responded to affirming invitations to do – to be – what I never imagined or dreamed I could be. It was the invitation, both affirming and surprising, that recognized potential and giftedness in me. This led me to a most fulfilling experience in being a woman of the Church.

Being Associate Pastor at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Schaumburg, Ill., for 13 years opened up significant opportunities to experience the reality of priesthood that flows out of our Baptism. It was there that I found myself experiencing more intensely the tension found in the “unrecognized” ministry of the non-ordained. At the same time, I found people affirming my goodness, my effectiveness, my presence in the community.

I found myself in a unique situation in the Church where I was free to be woman in the Church in ways that were not “legalized.” I found support and recognition from my colleagues, both ordained and non-ordained. I found a shared vision of faith, of Church, of ministry and of presence that was exciting, stimulating and life-giving. I found hope in the love and care and concern of parishioners who recognized when I, too, was in need. And I was touched profoundly by such loving presence.

Reflecting on religious life

Reflecting back on these 70 years of being a Sister of Providence, I find renewed enthusiasm and strengthened conviction to continue as a woman of the Church, conscious of my baptismal call to ministry. I find courage and hope in the Providence of a loving God as I become more conscious of my human limitations and the need to accept who I am and who I am becoming. I find wisdom in Christian spirituality as I hear once more the challenge to let go and let be.

I find affirmation and love and warmth as I listen and attend to the people with whom I now interact. In all of this, I know once more the loving presence of God expressed concretely in so many life-giving moments. These God-moments give birth to the freedom to live life fully and lovingly in God. It is in this community, mission-driven and focused on what is central to faith, that I know once more how I am so blessed and loved by God.

Come and see!